Global Vaccines in the News

Dr. Laura White's Dengue vaccine research cited in recent article published by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

July 10, 2012 The NIAID announced the publication of a Dengue review article entitled, "Dengue research opportunities in the Americas" in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jis351) by NIAID scientists, including NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the history of Dengue in the Americas, the current status of this disease in the Americas, how the virus propagates, and the current status of research into the development of diagnostic kits, treatments, and vaccines for dengue.

Within the dengue vaccine research section, the authors cite ongoing clinical evaluation of several live attenuated vaccines being developed by various vaccine companies, including Sanofi Pasteur, Inviragen, Merck/Hawaii Biotech, as well as the NIAID itself.

Additionally, the authors describe a handful of nonreplicating dengue vaccine candidates under preclinical development, with a specific mention of Dr. Laura White's Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus replicon vector-based dengue vaccine and its promising results as seen in monkeys.

Dr. Laura White joined Global Vaccines as its Director of Research in May 2011. This work was conducted while Dr. White was a faculty member at the Carolina Vaccine Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This work was supported by an R21 grant provided by the NIAID. The article cited by the NIAID publication is listed below.

Global Vaccines' work to the serve poorest of the world and its founder, Dr. Robert Johnston, were featured prominently in Raleigh, North Carolina's "News & Observer"

April 2009"Experiment in Business."

MORRISVILLE -- Robert Johnston encountered doubts and laughter when he started to look for a way to develop sophisticated vaccines that people in developing countries need desperately but cannot afford.

Seven years later, Global Vaccines, a nonprofit company founded by the microbiology professor and director of the Carolina Vaccine Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, has 12 employees, a 4,000-square-foot lab, an annual budget of $2 million and several projects in preclinical development. View the full article